oh, it's great! now i can brew my coffee just the way i love it. how do you do that? well, inside the brewer, there's this train that's powerful enough to carry more coffee and fresh water to make coffee that's stronger and bigger... and even hotter! actually, i just press this button. brew the coffee you love -- stronger, bigger, or hotter -- with the keurig vue.

rain has returned to the bay area bringing with it concerns about a levee on the peninsula. five years ago a shocking incident at the san francisco zoo made national headlines and tonight we'll look back at the lessons learned from that christmas tragedy. good evening merry christmas i'm ken wayne. >> and i'm jana katsuyama, frank and julie have this christmas off. >> we're on storm watch as another storm rolls through the area. we have team coverage of this

latest system. bill martin is tracking on storm tracker 2. but we begin with john fowler he's like in palo alto and brings us why people are keeping an eye on a levee. >> reporter: because it's raining. you may see some spots on your lens. let me show you san franciscito bridge. it is much higher than when you last saw it. there's 3,700 sandbags here. state crews brought in 3,500 of these sandbag, built some so called chimneys to protect the levee from erosion from beneath. the idea here is that this is a temporary fix for a 82-year-old problem here. and just a little while ago the officials for the joint powers authority told me that the rain tonight should not be enough to push the creek to the near record flows of two nights and and across the bay we found people enjoying tonight's rain. >> it is, it is.

it's going to hopefully bring a lot of freshness, right to the valley. clean out the dirty and bring the new for the new year, right? >> with holiday lights there was barely a problem on the roads today. marin county gets 3/4 of its drinking walter from rainfall so for many this is worth the bother. >> it's wonderful to have the rain. definitely for the plants for everything. >> reporter: we found people out today doing truly last minute shopping and dodging showers. >> maybe other people like it, yes. >> i have a restaurant close to the napa river, so we're always on a flood watch up there. >> reporter: and this christmas day brought crowds to the golden gate bridge including this open top sightseeing bus with people braving the elements. >> you know what everybody here is in a great mood and they're here for christmas and they're having a good time and so we're getting wet but, it's great out here. >> and not so great out here for one family who's home has

been red tagged. they had to spend christmas day living in an apartment rented by the city. now i should tell you though that this levee does appear to be holding at least for now. reporting live in east palo alto, john fowler, ktvu channel 2 news. we also just checked with san francisco airport to see if there are any weather related problems there. there are 30 to 90 minute delays mainly involving flights from other west coast low -- locations. we also learned that people lost power because of a transformer failure. a steady light rain most of the day. and then in the last hour and a half the rain really started to calm down. especially in the south bay. look at the showers and rain moving through the peninsula. look at the current situation as we look. you can see oakland through redwood. nothing like we saw just about

10, 15 minutes ago. here's a hot spot out here near milpitas. you're seeing this is heavy rain right in these areas. these cells pretty impressive but i have to tell you what we were going through about an hour ago, 45 minutes ago is really impressive more than what we saw here. evergreen you're starting to clear out. over here by, pardon me by santa clara you're seeing this heavy rain. so you're seeing the widely scattered showers. the spot of concern is out toward gilroy and morgan hill. rainfall rates right here coming up to an inch and a half to 2-inches an hour. it's a fast moving little cell that's moving through here. the rainfall rate is very, very strong. when we get back we got the latest computer model and i'll give you an idea of what you can expect. you have more showers in the forecast. the main event that just happened that's what you heard on your rooftop just a little bit ago. we'll see you back here. the recent storms are bringing some good news for the regions water supply. in the south bay a spokeswoman

for the santa clara water district says that reservoirs are 102% of normal capacity for this time of year. she says the intense storms have helped the ground water levels. >> we were doing pretty well. you know luckily we've had a series of ongoing storms so we're not in a deficit situation. currently lexington reservoir is 60% full. yubas is 90% full. the sierra is get ago good dusting of snow and a lot of skiers and snow boarders are heading out that way. as you can see though the roads are a little bit messy. in just about 10 minutes we'll have a live report for you from the foothills on the difficulty getting up to the slopes. and remember you can always get up to the minute weather and traffic information on ktvu.com. the information is always available on ktvu's mobile site and mobile app. police are investigating a homicide in west oakland it happened around 2:30 this afternoon near 24th and chestnut streets. the victim was taken to

highland hospital where he was pronounced dead. neighbors say they heard several gunshots. our photographer on the scene counted more than 20 bullet casings at two different crime scenes. it has been five years now since that deadly christmas day tiger attack at the san francisco zoo. ktvu's david stevenson reports on how the victim's family is coping and how that attack led to major changes at the zoo. >> reporter: at the san francisco zoo, holiday lights drape a statute of tatiana. five years ago, she climbed the fence and attacked two. the three men brothers paul and colbert and their friend 17- year-old carlos suza junior provoked and teased the tiger.

suza died of his injuries. the daliwall and suza families received a pay out from the zoo. >> they realized the zoo was not going to hand them a payday because they felt that tatiana had been wrongly killed. >> reporter: today there's an electrified fence, a taller wall and a new tiger. we spoke to carlos suza's father this afternoon just after he visited his son's grave site. >> the scar is always going to be there. >> reporter: suza says he doesn't hold any garages against the zoo. >> the positive thing that came out of this the zoo is safer now and people could go there knowing that their children are going to be safe. >> in san francisco, david

stevenson, ktvu channel 2 news. postal carriers have volunteered to work a special holiday shift today just to make sure all those last minute gifts arrive on time for christmas. the postoffice is officially closed but in san jose this morning, eight carriers decided to work their routs. nancy ray delivered 25 packages to happy families. and when she was done with those she went back to make sure there were no other packages to be delivered. gift returns range from being very easy to pretty complicated. ktvu consumer editor tom vacar joins us live from alameda about the rules you should watch out for. >> reporter: with at least one in ten of these at least going back to the store this week, consumers are finding out that scammers have made that just a little bit harder. return fraud will cost retailers $3 billion this year. money the rest of us pay to make up for and to contend with

at the return counter. >> i think it's because a lot of people kind of want to scam sometimes. >> a lot of people scam and stuff. i've seen it you know at wal- mart and stuff like that. >> i know that takes a lot of their profit especially this time of year when things are tight and we're still in a recession. >> it's always one bad apple always spoils the whole bunch. that's just life. >> reporter: at best buy most items have to be returned by january 24th with a receipt and picture i. d. some items are for exchange only no refund. toys are toys r' us has a 90 day policy, some items are for exchange only. >> if you knew you were going to exchange it you should have brought your reseat or get a gift receipt when you make the purchase. >> i've never really had a problem. i always get a gift reseat and friends who give me gifts make

sure i have a gift receipt. >> reporter: macy's can look up your purchase if you don't have a receipt. if one can't be found you will get the lowest price that item sold for in the last month. kohl's return any item at any time. after a year, cash or credit for your return. over a year, no cash return,. >> reporter: reporting live consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. dozens of children got an unexpected visit from santa claus today with a little help from san francisco firefighters. >> merry christmas. >> crews went to the tenderloin area to share some of the toys that had been donated throughout the year. along with organized give aways

crews say they like to go out into the neighborhoods on christmas day hoping to put a smile on some young faces. >> now we're really finding the kids who need them the most because they haven't applied they don't know about our toy program. so we're going around to different neighborhoods, different playgrounds and we're going to find kids without toys and drop them off and be on our way. >> the toy program has started about 15 years ago and has grown ever since. some chilling new developments and information about the deadly ambush of firefighters. the true spirit of christmas as volunteers turn out to provide holiday meals for people in need. and bill martin is back in a few minutes, here's storm tracker 2, he'll tell us more about when the rain will end and he's already looking into the weekend.

the rainy weather can cause traffic problems on bay area freeways. here's a live look at i80. the east shore freeway you see a lot of cars coming in the head light direction toward the city. no major problems reported right now but the highway patrol is asking drivers to slow down on the wet roads. a san diego man is under arrest on drunk driving charges tonight after a wrong way crash just knot of nevato earlier today. chen was driving south on northbound 101 when he hit janice moranti. both drivers were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. crews are looking for the cause of a three alarm fire that destroyed a business in campbell. ktvu was first on the scene just after 8:00 this morning. the commercial building housed two businesses. firefighters tell us they were

forced to take a defensive stance. it took crews about an hour to put out the fire. the business in the back was a total loss. the other business suffered mostly water damage. new york police say human remains found in the home of the man who lured firefighters to their deaths are believed to be the remains of the gunman's sister. police also say that 62-year- old exconvict william spengler left a note about plans to shoot firefighters. he left a note saying that he wanted to burn down the neighborhood and quote do what i do best, kill people. netflix says it is fully back online after service problems that started yesterday. the outage affected users in the u.s., canada and south america blocking viewing services from many users. they blamedded outage on a

server belonging to amazon and said an investigation is under way to determine exactly what happened. a lot of people may be headed to the sierra for fun and snow. a a lot of snow has been coming down but getting there may not be so easy. looks like the snow is coming down, claire. >> reporter: yeah the snow is coming down and it's coming down hard causing a lot of problems for drivers. let me show you how bad it is on i80 right now. you can see the traffic circling all the way back there. right now they are saying that is causing about a two hour delay. eastbound traffic is being held at the alta exit where there is chain controls. that is for as long as it snows. earlier westbound traffic was being held this afternoon in truckee due to spin outs but they finally released traffic. at least seven accidents in a truckee area this afternoon in just two hours many of them causing minor injuries. we spoke to drivers earlier who had to put on their chains but

were in very good spirits this holiday. >> you're stuck in traffic here but you're enjoying it. >> yes, we don't get a lot of snow in india where we come from so it's good. >> that's right. we've never had a white christmas. i guess this is a first. celebrating it in the car though. >> it's a lot of fun. we traveled today so we could see the snow. >> now for those expecting to travel here tonight the snow is not letting up. they say it is going to be harder at times. lighter at times and it is going to be a delay. caltrans is telling people to drive very slowly and to enjoy their white christmas. reporting live from i80. claire doan, ktvu news. thousands of holiday meals were served to those in need in san francisco today at glide memorial church. organizers said they fed close to 5,000 people during two separate meals. among the volunteers were members of arizona state football team who were in town

for the kraft bowl. >> it's awesome i'm going to help people out here. >> glide is having trouble keeping up with the demand and is helping more people will help out in the coming year. just a few blocks away, hot meals were being served in st. anthony's. members from the navy football program helped serve mealed there. they received a meal and a scarf and socks and toiletries. nurses walked off their jobs because of contract issues with sutter health and hca health care over health benefits, sick pay and staffing levels. a spokesman for alta base said the union is misrepresenting management proposals. it's the eighth such walk out since negotiations started more than 18 months ago. from hospitals to coffee shops and cable cars lots of people spent all or part of

this day at work. ktvu's lorraine blanco spoke about how people made the best of working on the holidays. >> reporter: just as familied shared holiday kwaáult time many people worked to keep the streets tidy in union square. to show tourists the prettiest parts of the city. >> i rather be home but it's okay. >> and of course to save the day when needed. >> it kind of comes with the territory. it's part of the job. we have some off we have some that we work. >> reporter: at starbucks in oakland it's a revolving door for those who need a jolt. the barristas are busy. >> somebody has to do it i guess. i worked on christmas. sometimes you get time and a half. >> reporter: if you own a business no holiday pay but for jesse patel and her husband max

next door at their liquor store it's not so bad. >> i guess i don't mind. we'll close early so we'll be home for dinner. >> at the turn around we met blue. who stays in while he works for his christmas dinner. >> merry christmas. >> reporter: the sftma say they are very slow except for the cable trains some of those operators are working until midnight tonight. lorraine blanco, ktvu news. heavy rain moving through the bay area over the last hour or so. here's the satellite loop or radar loop. you see the reds and yellows in the peninsula in the south bay. the breaks are beginning to occur as we head out toward the danville, san ramon area. they've just got through having some moderate rainfall.

they had some heavy rain earlier. rainfall was just .2 of an inch an hour out toward milray. things have really, really really calmed down. east out toward north first street out toward the santa clara area. we have rainfall rates at .3 of an hour. that's a little heavier. then you go out by jackland road. that's rain, when you get .4 of an inch an hour you're getting high speed rain windshield wiper usage. we come to the gilroy area. you're getting heavy rain right now. about .4 of an inch an hour. things definitely winding down from what was really a very heavy rainfall spurt. a winter storm warning in effect. that goes through midnight tomorrow night. they're going to get 2 feet of new snow, easy. snow level down about 3,200

feet. winter storm warning and a winter weather advisory for the snowfall. that's a lot of driving with chains that's really slow going. here we are tonight. that's a widely scattered showers we're seeing. more widely scattered showers around 9:00. by 10:00, 11:00 it starts to break out even more. keep the umbrellas handy. tomorrow morning still unstable. there'll be some breaks in it. something down in the peninsula. nothing like today. today was pretty wet. tomorrow will be a much nicer day but showers around. we start to dry out. we get a nice little break here. i say clearing is an optimistic thing. i kid -- i did put rain drops in there. nothing major, we have had a lot of rain. 160% of average in the north bay right now and some areas

over that. so compared to last year we were 35%, 40% of average. >> we still have a lot of winter left. >> a lot of winter left. fred inglis is up in about three minutes with what's coming up next in sports. >> we'll show you what some people who don't celebrate christmas are doing today.

there was plenty of holiday cheer in berkeley today outside a delicatessen. that sounds fun. soul's restaurant threw their annual holiday event. it's become a traditional for jews and gentiles alike. if you're a professional basketball player you do not get much of a holiday do you? >> well there's five games today that means 10 teams and for the golden state warriors they're just about ready to board a plane to fly for utah for tomorrow night's game. they should be rested and ready. golden state hasn't played since saturday night when they lost in overtime to the lakers.

warriors were 7-1 following the loss. all this time for the holidays is important. >> this is just a game. you want to cherish those moments. it's a long season. it's a very demanding one and it's great when we can take a deep breath, relax and enjoy the things that are really important in this life. >> well santa claus was in la today. apparently he's a lakers fan. lakers got back to .500 for the season. knicks carmelo anthony scored 16 of his 30 in the fourth quarter. lakers win their fifth straight as steve nash gives the ball to gasol. merry christmas to all. miami silences the thunder once again. boston belts brooklyn. the usa dawns in the dark jerseys played their third straight game in honolulu this

morning. they beat east tennessee state. the big guy for usf was dickerson. he scored 14 of his 19 in the first half. 67-49 is the final. finished seventh in the diamond head classic. not a bad gig. going to hawaii. playing a couple of games. >> get away from the rain. lay on the beach. have a couple of maitais. bill is tracking the weather system and the problems it might be causing tonight. thank you for watching ktvu channel 2 news we'll see you tonight at 10:00.